Genuflecting, making the sign of the cross, bowing and kneeling are automatic for life long Catholics, but these gestures can be intimidating for the convert.  Now that I have been Catholic for a little over a year, I rather enjoy entering into the physical nature of worship in the Mass.  It is a concrete and tangible way to show reverence for Christ.

However, early on in my rookie year I must confess that instead of dwelling in awe on the incredible privilege of being able to receive Christ in the Eucharist, I was instead obsessed with “getting through” the Mass without some embarrassing incident.

You have to realize that all this “out of the pew” worship was very foreign to this former Protestant.  I was raised in the Presbyterian Church, and we did not even proceed to the alter for communion.  We were served in the safety and security of our own pew.  So, the chance for any misstep was drastically reduced in these circumstances.

And to top it all off, I would have to describe myself as moderately clumsy in nature.  Thus, genuflecting presents some problems for me.  In my short time as a Catholic, I have almost “wiped out” on several occasions going down on one knee.  I envy the grace and fluidity of those life long Catholics who can genuflect so naturally in the middle of an exiting crowd no less!!  And don’t talk to me of the convert who masters the art of genuflecting so quickly – it really sends me over the edge.  In this short time, I have devised a plan for a successful genuflect.  In order to achieve this, I firmly attach myself to the edge of the pew with my left arm to maintain stability and then proceed to bend my knee.  I have not yet mastered combining the genuflect with making the sign of the cross at the same time.  The back and forth nature of the crossing can throw me off kilter.  However, my motto here is simply one worship gesture at a time – genuflect, then cross OR cross, then genuflect.

I know some of you are probably astounded at the time and thought that I have put into this.  (And some of you may be smiling because you can relate!)  I have to confess – this isn’t my only issue.  “What if I dropped the host?” is another subject entirely.

Now that my rookie year is over, I am happy to report that I have mostly worked through all of my worship issues and I am able to focus on what is REALLY going on in the Mass.   Despite all my rookie year worship insecurities, I am so blessed and grateful that the Lord called me to be Catholic.

Chick “A”